• Boxes and lumber marked "J.D. Hilger, Pierre, east of Fort Pierre" were unloaded from a river boat onto the east bank of the Missouri River in May of 1880. John Hilger, his brother Anson and Anson's wife and son were waiting to retrieve the items.
• That was the explanation Anson Hilger gave for how he named Pierre, according to Harold H. Schuler's A Bridge Apart.
• Pioneer merchants such as Hilger, explorers, military officers, settlers, railroad officials and more have all left their mark on South Dakota by the names they gave to its lakes, towns and mountains.
• In 1838, 2nd Lt. John C. Frémont accompanied French-born naturalist Joseph N. Nicollet as Nicollet mapped the area between the Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Frémont charted several lakes in northeastern South Dakota.  He named Lake Benton after his future father-in-law and powerful U.S. Sen. Thomas Hart Benton; Lake Preston after South Carolina Sen. William Campbell Preston; and Lake Poinsett after his friend and benefactor Joel Poinsett. Frémont christened another lake Abert after his superior, U.S. Army Col. J.J. Abert. This body of water later became known as Lake Albert.

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